Gears of War: Strike Team November
by Eggman Zero
Summary: The Locust War rages on several years after Emergence Day. Takes place ten years after E-Day and one year after the fight at East Barricade, after which Marcus Fenix is court martialed. Follow Strike Team November as they fight the Locust horde.
1. Looking for Reinforcements

It was a mess. The large crystal chandelier which once hung so elegantly was not mingling with the dust and broken cinderblocks that made up the new carpet of the Chapel of St. Gregory. A few fires were burning, the holy water knocked over, and with all the destruction in the place, the devil himself couldn't have fit inside. The sunlight refracting off the dust in the air made it look like there were a dozen spotlights shining into the church.

Come to think of it, mess really doesn't do the situation justice. A tragedy would be a better way to describe the scene.

Shell casings and scorch marks scarred the exterior of the building. Blood was splashed on the walls, like someone had taken a can of sanguine paint and thrown it at the wall until nearly the entire building was shimmering red. The building used to embody elegance, prestige, and holiness. Is was almost as if those adjectives gave Sera the finger and left forever.

Bodies lay on the semi-circle of sandbags before the front stairs to the church. They were brutally disfigured and, in some cases, dismembered: an arm lay here, a head there. It was if they were sacrificed and left in front of the church as a reminder of man's sins.

Not all was dead amongst the parade of corpses. There were three left. Alan Frederich. Sam Hamilton. Jess McEver. The only ones after several hours of Locust attacks.

Alan keyed the magazine release of his Lancer assault rifle and snapped in a fresh clip as Sam loaded another few shells into his old but trusty bolt-action Mk.2 Longshot sniper rifle. Jess dropped one of his two Hammerburst rifles for a Gnasher and, after checking the status of some grenades, picked a pair of Frags off the ground.

"Jess, how long until evac?" Alan inquired.

"Don't know. Let me check." He put his hand up to his ear. "Command, this is November Leader. What is the ETA of those dropships?"

Static. Then, "November, this is Command. They've encountered a platoon of Reavers about two and a half klicks south of your current location. Evac is looking like it's going to be around four hours.

Jess swore to himself. "Roger that, Command."

"Don't get your hopes down, though. We see on our satellite imaging another squad near you. Looks like several from Glacier squad is on Stratham Street on the third floor of the old Strauss library. We understand your predicament and are currently contacting Glacier and relaying your coordinates to them. Recommend sending one of your own to receive them halfway."

"I'll put Sam on it. Thanks, Command."

"Good hunting Sam. Command out."

Jess keyed the power to the radio and turned to Sam, handing him his second Hammerburst. "Take one of my guns instead of the Longshot. They're pretty hard to come by now."

Sam started to protest, "But I don't think you need to worry about any of those damn grubs..."

"I understand, but our orders are to secure the church and this square is very open. We need it back here." He paused. "Sorry, Sam. But they've ordered us to keep all Longshots close by. Good luck out there."

Sam stiffened, "Yes, sir!" He peeked over the sandbags and mantled over, running off in Glacier's direction. Jess sighed. It had been a long day.

November and Pathos squads had been scouting around the Chapel of St. Gregory for a clear path to the sewers where their true objective waited: they were to enter the Locust stronghold through some emergence holes that met at a junction between the sewers and the Underground. What they didn't know of was that the Locust were beginning an attack to take control of Sarfuth's capital, Sarfuth City, _en masse_. Both sides were surprised to see each other in such an enclosed space.

Needless to say, a massacre ensued. November had been reduced to its last officer, while Pathos still had two soldiers left. Pathos changed callsigns to November since Jess was the ranking officer.

As he watched Sam run into the nearest alley, he had a strange feeling that in the end, today wouldn't be such a shitty day after all.

Sam cursed as he went into the shadows of the alleyway leading from the church. This was the closest route that would take him to Glacier squad. Although he didn't mind it, he couldn't stand the thought of _running_ all the way to the Strauss library.

He dove out from the alley on the next road, rolled, and landed behind a car. He peered over the hood, thinking that the next wave of Locust would be there. He saw nothing that looked dangerous. Not to him, at least.

Sam grinned like a teenage boy as he looked at a nearly scratchless APC several blocks down. The APC had a mounted infrared light that would burn through any Locust smaller than a Boomer, while its quad-mounted 25mm cannons would punch through the armor of even the strongest Corpser.

Warily, Sam came out of hiding. He always had the best eye for danger out of anyone in his squad, but he saw nothing. If this were a Locust trap, it would certainly be a well conceived one.

He took several steps forward and dove to the right, landing behind an overturned delivery truck. Sam peeked out with his Hammerburst, hoping to catch a glimpse of anything that could be laying in wait for someone to make a mistake. Slowly but steadily, he made his way towards the APC, each time making sure there was nothing watching him. It took nearly half an hour to make it to the vehicle.

He ran the last twenty meters to the APC, climbed into the driver's seat, and keyed the standard access code to turn it on. The engine sputtered for a few seconds, then purred to life. Sam flicked on the power of the GPS and saved the current location in its database.

He slammed his foot to the floor and whipped the wheel to the right, peeling out and turning the APC around in Glacier's direction. The stench of burned rubber from the massive wheels entered the cockpit, but Sam was having too much fun. He gunned it again, and shot off down the main drag of Sarfuth City.

It took almost another half hour to make it to Stratham Street. With the handbrake engaged, Sam spun the wheel to the right, sending the APC into a drift around the corner, where it slammed into a practically sparkling Venzio PX 733; nothing really "sparkled" anymore, but it looked like it hadn't been touched by any of the surrounding damage. The SUV rolled end over end, going through the front window of the department store across the street. Unfazed by ramming the vehicle, the APC finally rumbled to a stop two blocks away from the library.

Sam leaned out of the driver's seat window and looked for any enemy contacts. He didn't need to look hard; four Boomers towered above around thirty standard-issue Grubs.

He leaned back inside, and engaged the lockdown mode. All of the titanium-carbide panels slid up, making the APC nearly impenetrable. A few support struts jettisoned out of the bottom and locked on the ground for stability. On the interior, a series of heads-up displays flickered to life. Sam tapped a few of the buttons near the wheel and a couple lines of text appeared at the bottom of the screen confirming that weapons were hot.

Sam looked back at the HUD and saw a targeting reticule had appeared and was pointing at the parade of enemies before him. He flicked a switch and saw the Boomers jump towards him as the camera zoomed and adjusted. He grinned as he took aim and fired.

The first several rounds tore the Boomer on the left in half, sending a shower of blood billowing out of his sides. Stunned, the enemies turned around, trying to figure out what was going on as Sam let the cannons drift to the right. A dozen more died as the APC's rounds tore through them. As more of them died, they finally realized where the attack was coming from, but it was too late.

When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, the Locust that had been close together before were now a little bit more spread out on than they had been before. Almost insultingly easy work for an APC.

Sam brought the APC out of lockdown and continued towards the Strauss library. He stopped in front and got out of the armored vehicle while pulling out his Hammerburst. Quickly scanning the area again, he made his way up the stairs to the library door.

He was about to open the door when it suddenly burst open. He dove backwards off the stairs and rolled to his feet, gun aimed…

…directly at four humans. One had a Boomshot, another had a Mk. 3 Longshot with the bigger and better optics, the third had a Lancer, and the last one had faded red crosses on his shoulders.

The one with the Boomshot spoke up, "Well, _that_ was a warm way to say hello." He nodded to the remains on the street. "Friends of yours?"

Sam grinned and replied, "They were. I gave them a piece of my mind, though. It's good to see other friendly faces."

Another one of them stepped forward. He shouldered his Longshot and the sun glinted off his Sergeant insignia. "I'm Sergeant Ben Stewart." He jerked his thumb to the first man. "This smart-ass is Private Nick Nelson, our demo expert. These two," pointing to the guys on the other side of him, "are Privates Chuck Nichols, the support gunner, and Greg Hoffman, our medic. Would I be correct to assume that you are Sam, and that," motioning to the APC, "is our way out of here?"

Sam shrugged. "Sort of," he replied. "Command says that there are Reavers keeping the Ravens out, so we're stuck for around three more hours. We need to go back to the Chapel of St. Gregory, though. That's where Command is planning on sending the dropships. Any farther in this direction, and it would take even longer for evac. The Locust know we're trying to get out of there, so we need to get back there as soon as possible to help out the others."

"Others?"

"Yeah, they're back at the Chapel in case the Ravens end up being early and leave thinking that everyone's dead. We were planning on attacking the Locusts via their own tunnels, but they came up and smoked nearly everyone."

Greg spoke up, "Are there any injured?"

"Negative. We're fine, albeit a bit bruised from natural wear and tear. Out of the twenty or so of us, there's only three left, including me."

"Well, then they're going to need our help," Ben declared. "Let's move out."

Sam, with Glacier squad in toe, sprinted towards the APC. They jumped inside and turned on every system. Everyone took up firing positions, leaning out of the APC.

Ben barked, "Everyone in? Let's go!"

Sam replied by burning out a 180° turn back towards the street towards the Chapel of St. Gregory. Beneath the cloud of dust behind them, subtle cracks started forming in the ground at a safe distance.


	2. It Hits The Fan

As Jess watched Sam run into the nearest alley, he had a strange feeling that in the end, today wouldn't be such a shitty day after all.

He vaulted over the sandbags towards Alan. "Alan, let's gather weapons and ammo. Be sure to get COG tags, as well."

"Sure thing, sir."

They both moved about the front of the church gathering working weapons and clips that had fallen from their comrades. Alan stepped over one of their friends and realized that they hadn't taken his tag yet. He reached down and snatched it off their neck. The cobalt gear glowed as he looked at it in his hand. Wrapping his hand around it, he dropped it into his pocket.

Both Alan and Jess returned to the sandbags after a minute, returning with all the weapons that they could carry.

They took inventory and had enough to fight off an entire army if they needed to. They had at least one of every standard weapon for each of them; Snub pistols, Boltok pistols, Lancers, Gnashers, Hammerbursts, and frags. Lots of frags. Probably more frags than they would need in the rest of the war. They also had quite a bit of .308 Longshot ammo for Sam when he got back with Glacier squad.

Alan stood up. After a moment, "Sir, this is a shitload of weapons."

"Well, you haven't even seen the best part." Jess detached the Hammer remote out from his magnetic back harness and presented it.

"You've got to be shitting me…"

Before Emergence Day, back when survival wasn't as high a priority as making money, Alan had been in the Kingdom of Tyrus at a notable college majoring in Energy Engineering. His dissertation outlined plans for a non-Imulsion energy source that consisted of a beam of concentrated ever-renewing energy that yielded an amount of energy tenfold that of Imulsion. Although originally purposed for the college, the paper made its way into the hands of the COG. As most dominant-military states do, they figured out how to turn it into a weapon. Simply put it on a satellite, make it solar powered, and remove the energy couplers, and you would have yourself one ridiculous weapon of mass destruction.

At Alan's permission, the government expounded upon the ideas as a viable resource and weapon, both means that could end the Pendulum Wars. Upon realization that they lacked sufficient technology, the COG drew up the plans for the attack at Aspho Fields in the Ostri Republic where they knew suitable technology was located. After the equipment was finalized, the COG put over a hundred Dawn satellites in the sky under the premise of "national security".

Of course, that premise changed after E-Day.

As he held it in his hands, Alan looked at his brain child and, having never seen it before, wondered how well it worked. He looked at Jess and said, "I don't give a fuck about 'dibs' or whatever the kids are saying nowadays: I'm using it." He attached it to his hip and sat down on the ground, leaning on a barrel propped on some sandbags.

Jess smiled and replied, "It's your baby. You might as well take care of it, too." He sat down behind the sandbags and leaned his head on them.

Alan looked around at the church, the blood spattered on it, and the bodies. He frowned. Something wasn't right.

"Hey, Jess", he said. "Why did they have us only send Sam? Why wouldn't they have the three of us go?"

Jess pulled out a map and tossed it to Alan. Alan promptly opened it while Jess shut his eyes again. "We're in grid eight-foxtrot. The Ravens are coming in from the north, which means that if we _all_ went to find Glacier, it would take an additional two more hours to get out of this shithole." After glancing, up at the peak of the church, he added quietly, "No offense."

"But why couldn't we all have gone and come back? If Sam's dead, no one will know."

"Not necessarily. When I was talking to Command earlier, they said they notified Glacier that Sam was going. They'll know." He sighed. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, because it's classified material. Underneath this church, there's an ammo cache with some experimental weapons in it. If the Locust were to get them and reproduce them, we'd be screwed."

Alan looked up. "What kinds of weapons?"

Jess shrugged. "They never said. They just said it was a 'weapon cache that requires protection'. Typical "keep the tough guys out of the loop" bullshit. I doubt that one of us alone could hold off another force of Locust."

Alan leaned back against the sandbags, and closed his eyes.

It may have been thirty minutes when he heard the noise. It was a strange noise, yet somewhat familiar to him. He didn't even recognize it at first; it sounded more like machinery grinding together than anything else.

As he struggled to remember why it sounded so familiar, Alan's thoughts took him back a year to the last major human resistance to the Locust: Jacinto Plateau. Jess fought to bring up as much of his memory as he could and began piecing it together little by little.

He had been at East Barricade Academy with his mentor, Adam Fenix, in an attempt to protect his vast scientific work. After the first few hours, the Locust assault became a tidal wave of flesh and metal and hate. Adam called his son to his aid, but by the time he got there, it was too late. Adam was gone. And that was right about the time that he heard the same distant roar back in the direction Marcus had come from…

He bolted upright at the recognition.

"Jess…" he started, but Jess had his finger on his ear.

"Command. We have a Brumak."

------------------------------

The APC flew through the air and landed on the other side of the drawbridge. Sam threw the wheel to the left and swung around the corner, just barely missing a demolished tank. They wheeled around the circular road. Around the corner, there was a building that had recently fallen and blocked the road. Sam pulled the emergency brake, sending the APC into a skid.

Nick yelped and slid up the floor, coming to rest right next to Sam. He yelled, "Dude, what the fuck do you think you're doing? You nearly killed me, dick."

Ben walked up and put his hand on Nick's shoulder. "Maybe you should buckle the fuck up, private."

Sam hit a switch and the front of the vehicle unfolded. They got out of the APC and began to assess the situation.

Ben looked from the building to the APC. Then back to the building. Then to the APC. He looked at Sam, "Why can't we just drive through it?"

Sam glanced over, "I've been in that building before. The ACP would be destroyed before we broke through the wall. It's one of those buildings that's supposed to have extra protection in case of seismic activity."

That was when they heard the ground behind them start to crack. They wheeled around just in time to see an explosion of dirt, asphalt, and cars as giant insect-legs come through the bulging ground.

Just as Nick released a choice expletive, Ben put his hand up to his ear. "Command, we have a Corpser."


	3. Of Spiders and Guns

"Command, we have a Corpser."

"Copy that, Glacier. We have recently heard from November. They have a Brumak advancing towards them, and they're going to need your help. They have the Hammer, but they don't have that much more satellite coverage before they're dead. Advise that you kill the Corpser fast and go assist them."

"Roger that." Ben keyed the mic off and yelled, "Chuck, get in the APC let that shitty excuse for a monster have a taste of our weapons."

Before Ben had a chance to turn around to start firing at the Corpser, Chuck had already bounded up the steps into the ACP. He spun the vehicle around and brought the guns to bear on the Corpser.

It was hiding behind its armored legs, until it decided to fling one out towards Sam, who promptly dove behind an old Junker, which took the brunt of the damage.

Chuck took the opportunity and opened fire. The armor-piercing rounds tore through the fleshy part of the Corpser's upper leg, eventually blowing it off.

The giant arachnid reared back and roared in pain, exposing more of its body. Despite their size and the ability strike fear into the hearts of many, no one could say anything for their mental capacity as Chuck pumped round after round into the creature's stomach.

Ben, who was closest to the Corpser at its time of death, stood and watched as the Corpser fell, missing him by mere feet. After it came to rest, Ben spat, "That's right, you spider bitch: you _better_ die." He turned towards the rest of them, "As for us, we need to double-time it back to November. They have a Brumak coming towards them, and it sounds like they'll need our help." They piled into the APC and peeled towards Jess and Alan.

------------------------------

Alan ran way from the sandbags as an explosion tore through them. He slid underneath a fallen girder and rolled through the main church door. Jess followed and dove through one of the elegantly stained-glass windows of the church and rolled to his feet next to Alan. They jumped in unison over the first pew and took cover with rifles pointed to the entrance.

Alan shot a look at Jess. "What the hell are we going to do now? Our weapons can't pierce that thing's armor."

"I know, I know. But maybe…" He put his hand to his ear, "Command, can we use the Hammer of Dawn?

"Negative, Jess. You'll get satellite coverage in a while."

He cursed. "Roger that, Command. We'll try to last that long. Do you have any suggestions in the meantime?"

There was a crackle of static, then, "When you have satellite contact to the Hammer of Dawn, we'll let you know and tell you where to target the Brumak. Until then, we can only suggest that you stay alive long enough to kill it."

He rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, "Thanks for the suggestion. What would we do without you? "

Alan looked over at him. "Let me guess. They said that basically we're fucked until the Hammer comes online?"

"If we ever manage to kill the Locust, you'd make a fortune as a mystic. In the meantime, we need a plan."

"Well, Command already said we shouldn't die. I suggest we stay somewhere along those lines."

Jess sighed and said, "If you want to suggest something, Alan, you can put it in a memo and submit it with the title, 'Don't read this because I think it's funny to be a dick when we're both minutes away from death'."

"Roger that, sir. On a more serious note, though, I would suggest getting into that weapons cache. I mean, if it's important enough to protect, there's got to be something in there that we can put to use."

Jess put his hand up to his ear again. "Fair enough. Command, Alan just suggested that we use some of the weapons at the cache we're supposed to be defending. Are we allowed to proceed with this course of action, or are the weapons restricted?"

"Wait one." There was a pause of a few seconds while explosions outside rocked the ground beneath them. They moved further into the church. Paint flecked from the wall and books fell of shelves. The com crackled again. "Jess, this is Colonel Salvador Mendoza. You have my permission to use any weapons in that cache, and I highly suggest you use it ASAP. You can gain access to the cache through a removable panel underneath the large rug in the chapel's undercroft. Head there now while I brief you on the weaponry you will need." Alan and Jess ran off towards the back of the church and the stairwell to the undercroft.

"The first on the list is a new type of anti-material sniper rifle. It's an experimental Mk.5 Longshot. It doesn't use the .308 the current issue uses, but since Sam is bringing an APC, you have plenty of .50s. According to the Intel, use of the .50 cal bullets allows for longer range shots. There is also an RPG that fires shots that fly faster and farther than the Boomshot grenade and includes a fly-by-wire feature as well. The supply crates down there are labeled so you know what they are.

"You may notice that there are a couple other weapons that, unfortunately, take a bit of explaining to understand how they work and a bit more practicing to make effective use of them. You and Glacier squad will be briefed on those weapons after the Brumak is killed and both of your squads are safe and secure. After you get to the cache, there are a couple side tunnels that lead to the surrounding buildings. Alan, Jess: good hunting."

"Thank you, Colonel. Alan, let's get those weapons."

By that time, they were in the undercroft of the church and Alan already had the rug kicked to the side and the trap door opened. He keyed his flashlight and stood over the hole, Lancer at the ready pointing straight down into the hole. He glanced up to Jess and back down into the hole. "It's clear, sir."

Jess flipped his gun around and attached it to the magnetic holsters on his back that kept his unused guns in place. He jumped into the hole, grabbed one side of the ladder and slid down into the darkness.

Alan sighed as he backed down the ladder. When he got to the bottom, he looked around the room. The room had dim blue LED lights lining the walls of the room, giving it a dull appearance. Jess had already dragged out two crates, labeled "Longshot V" and "Rocket FBY". Dozens of other crates lined the room, each labeled with different names.

Jess looked up and said, "Which one do you want?"

Alan shrugged as he continued to scan the room. "I dunno. Both sound pretty fun when the General was talking about them on the radio. Take whichever one you want and I'll take the other. Even though we can't use it yet, I do have the Hammer."

Jess rolled his eyes, "Whatever. You take the Longshot. You're the better marksman of the two of us anyways." He cracked open the sniper case with a crowbar and removed the metallic case from the plywood and tossed it to Alan. Alan set it down on top of another box and began assembling the rifle. He screwed the long "floating" barrel into the main section of the rifle, attached the stock, and attached the variable 4.5-15x50mm scope to the upper rail of the gun. He looked up to see Jess throwing on a bandolier of RPG ammo.

"You ready to do this?"

Alan slid the bolt of the sniper rifle back and forwards, putting the first shell into firing position.

"Fuck yeah. Let's go stomp some bugs."


	4. David and Company vs Goliath

Sam was the first to step out of the APC when it reached a few blocks away from the square where the rest of November was waiting. Ben stepped out behind Sam, put his hand on his shoulder and pulled him to the side while Nick, Greg, and Chuck piled out after them.

Ben spoke in a low voice, "Hey, Sam. I've heard about your sniping achievements from people who you've served with. I figure that whoever sent you to find us earlier today was following protocol so you wouldn't lose one of our sniper rifles if you got pinned down and killed. They're hard enough to come by, even for higher ranking officers."

Gesturing to the others, "But now that you have a squad to back you up, I think all of us would benefit from you getting your weapon of choice back." He disconnected his Longshot from his magnetic back holster and, smiling, handed it to Sam.

Sam took the rifle and nodded. "Thank you, sir. All you have to do is make sure I have enough ammo in clutch situations."

"No problem, Sam."

Nick had apparently noticed, because he piped in, "Hey, Sam. You got a sniper rifle. Today is not a good day to be a Locust."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Of course it wouldn't be a legitimate conversation if Nick didn't give his two cents."

"Just as it wouldn't be a legitimate conversation if you didn't burn me. You know, if it weren't for the fact that Sam now has a Longshot, I'd say it may be a slightly better day for the Locust now that you've been downgraded to a Lancer, sir."

"Fuck you very much, Nick." He looked at the others. "Keep it close everyone. We're getting close to the chapel and the Brumak. Greg, you're our medic, so stay back. You're the last person we want to even get a fucking itch, so keep at a safe distance. Stay in the APC, if you feel so inclined. Sam will radio you if someone gets hit. Chuck, you're with me so we can irritate the hell out of that thing. Nick, you'll need to hit that Brumak as hard as you can. You and Sam have the only weapons that can puncture the Brumak's armor, so Nick you need to get that big bug to cringe.

"That's where you come in, Sam. We're going to use the same strategy to kill a Corpser, if there's no heavy armor available. I want you to hit whatever vital looking parts of that Brumak you can find and I want you at the top of that." He pointed to a nearby building. Sam turned and looked up at the huge structure.

A voice called out, "Sam!" Sam turned around to see two figures running from a nearby alleyway.

Ben turned and stood. "So you two must be the others of November squad. I'm Sergeant Ben Stewart. This is Glacier Squad; left to right, it's Nick, Greg, and then Chuck."

Jess was the first to speak up, "Yes, sir. I'm Jess and this is Alan. It's a pleasure to meet you and finally meet some friendly faces. Command gave us permission to access the weapon cache."

Ben nodded. "Well, then let's go get some weapons from there. Maybe there's something we can use."

Jess put up his hand. "Already done it. We got a rocket launcher Nick can make do with." He disconnected the RPG launcher from his back. "The shells fly faster than the Boomshot shells. Plus, you can actually guide the rocket."

Nick raised his eyebrows and took the launcher, handing Jess the Boomshot. "Nice! This'll make killing the Brumak a snap," adding a snap of his fingers for dramatic effect.

Alan spoke up, "Not only that, but we got an experimental rifle that Sam could put to use."

Ben scowled and shook his head, "I just gave Sam my Longshot. A regular rifle wouldn't be able to—."

Alan had already unhooked the experimental sniper from his back and held it outstretched.

Sam had already visually identified the gun and walked towards Alan. "It's a Mk.5 Longshot. It works off the .50 cals the APCs use and can pretty much make anything smaller than a Boomer fall to the ground before it realizes it has no torso. I'd heard rumors from some acquaintances I've made in the weapon development department, but I never thought they'd actually completed one. Thanks, Alan." He took it out of his hand.

Alan grinned. "No problem. I actually thought I was going to have to take your job."

Sam smiled back. "Well, we wouldn't want that, would we?" He tossed the Longshot back to Ben, who caught it and deftly spun it around. "Sergeant, now that we have two more people on our side and I have a better weapon, we have a position opening up for a spotter. I'd like you up there with me."

"Sure thing, Sam. It'd be an honor. Since I'll have to keep an eye out for Sam, you'll be in charge of this fight, Jess. I don't want to let my preoccupation keep me from making decisions."

Jess nodded. "Since you'll have a better position and Sam will be sniping, you should take the Hammer of Dawn with you, Ben. Well, let's go everyone."

------------------------------

On the fiftieth floor of the Barclays Bank building, Sam could see the entire square. There must have been a couple hundred Locust there that hadn't been there the last time he saw it. The Brumak was nowhere to be seen, but just because it wasn't able to be seen didn't mean it hadn't burrowed somewhere or wasn't hiding in one of the surrounding buildings. The Locust were taking up positions near the perimeter of the square, and their troops were already moving into the church.

Although Sam didn't necessarily like the idea of staying quiet until all hell broke loose, the plan was to head into the buildings adjacent to the square. Once there, they would shoot at the Brumak to annoy the hell out of it. Then, Nick would fire at the legs of the Brumak and, hopefully it would roar in pain. And, also hopefully, the pain would be so intense that it roared long enough for Sam to put a .50 caliber bullet or two into its gaping maw and blow out its spinal column. Just because it was a large motherfucker didn't mean it wasn't built the same way as the smaller motherfuckers. And Brumaks had been killed before. Maybe not as many as the Gears would have liked. But they weren't invincible.

That was the plan.

Or, at least, that was the plan before the Locust started showing up in droves. And the Brumak, the main target of the operation, had gone missing.

He muttered, "So much for the plan."

Sam sighed and looked at the scene without the scope. He keyed his mic, "Hey, Jess. There are Locust running into the church. I hope to God that you—."

He cut off when he saw a flash of light inside the church and the windows blasted outward. A half second later, the sharp crack of a huge explosion rocked the skyscraper. Sam looked back into the scope and watched as the front wall of the church fell forward and landed on a couple dozen Locust watched the church collapse inward, falling on top of the several Locust that had just run in.

The COM crackled to life. It was Jess. "Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you guys that after you left, Sam, we searched for weapons and found a ton of grenades. It's really amazing what a couple pounds of demo can do. Especially if you need to cover your tracks to a secret high-tech weapons cache. Or if you're bored and want to set a trap for some Locust bastards. Sorry about that."

Sam looked over at Ben, who rolled his eyes and sighed. As soon as he looked over at the church again, another line of explosions rippled through square. He frowned and keyed the mic again. "Did you set some comp-D in the square, too?"

There was a slight pause, then, "Negative. That second explosion wasn't because of us. Maybe the explosion in the church broke a gas line."

"November and Glacier, this is Command. Sorry for eavesdropping. I pulled up the maintenance plans for that part of the town. On my other monitor, I have a real-time video of your position coming in from a low-orbit surveillance satellite. Or at least it's supposed to be real-time. The whole one-hundred-miles-above-the-earth's-surface thing makes it not as "real-time" as it's supposed to be. Anyways, the line of the gas line in the square and the line of explosions don't line up."

Sam looked through the scope and tried to follow the line of the explosions.

Ben put his finger to his ear, "Maybe the line been changed to twenty feet away or something and the plans just weren't updated."

Chuck piped in, "Or maybe the plans were wrong."

The person at Command said, "The explosions were perpendicular to the gas line."

Nick and Ben said in unison, "Oh."

There was some typing in the background noise. "Let me see if I can see what caused it."

"Don't bother," Sam said. "The Brumak is back. Let's get ready to go, gentlemen."

"I'll let you know when the Hammer of Dawn comes online."

Alan came on the line, "We probably shouldn't attack until we have backup from the Hammer."

Ben said, "Alan, whether you intended for it to be an actual attack or not, the Brumak believes that it's in some danger. I followed the trajectory of that second explosion from the square and it appears that it came from the Brumak. And I think it's safe to say that it's pissed that you killed several dozen of its friends."

Jess came onto the line, "Alright, everyone. Calm down. So the Brumak is headed towards us. Let's just follow the plan and kill it."

Sam spoke up again, "And what do you plan on doing about the other hundred Locust in the courtyard. While those guys are easy to be killed, there's more than enough to overpower you guys down there."

Nick said, "Oh, fuck that. We can take them. Hell, _I'll_ take them all on.

------------------------------

Jess was standing on the top floor of a nearby doctor's office looking out the window. He rolled his eyes at Nick; although his sense of humor was refreshing, Nick was starting to get a little tedious. He looked up to where Sam was near the fiftieth floor of the Barclays building. Maybe if there was enough chaos going on, the Brumak would be confused and there would be an opening to kill it.

Jess said, "Alright, new plan. Sam, do you think you can accurately hit anything from up there? And I seriously mean _anything_. Maybe if you were to—" Jess paused when he saw single muted flash from the floor Sam was on. He heard another sharp crack, not nearly as big as the one that destroyed the church. He looked over in the direction it came from to see the all too recognizable explosion of one of the grenades. Several nearby Locust went limp and flew from the blast.

As he looked on, he saw another Locust explode, also taking the ones next to it out. Before its body parts flew apart, he noted it was one of the Grenadier types. He slowly put his finger to his ear in disbelief. "Sam, are you shooting the grenades off their bandoliers?"

Jess happened to be looking at the next target when it was hit. It was almost like it happened in slow motion. He was looking at a Boomer when he saw a flash of sparks come from its Boomshot. A corresponding divot appeared in the concrete underneath. The grenade inside exploded, sending the Boomer's other grenades flying into the other Locust. One of which was a Grenadier. After a half second, those grenades exploded as well, bringing the kill count from those four shots to roughly twenty kills.

Nick came onto the COM, "Hey, Jess. I think he's saying, 'yes.' That's some damn good shooting, Sam."

The COM emitted a single shot. A Grenadier exploded in response.

"You're welcome."

Jess watched as a Locust sniper came out of hiding and aimed up towards Sam, who was shooting Locust at the other end of the square. He keyed the COM quickly, "Sam, watch out. A sniper near my posi—" He stopped as he watched a round tear into its shoulder, separating arm from torso. As the body spun around in midair, many of the Locust turned their heads skyward and began firing blankly at the Barclays building.

Ben came over the COM, "Sorry I couldn't make that as impressive as a shot as Sam's have been. But then again, I'm not exactly skilled enough to be what I would call 'Guardian Angel Status' with a sniper rifle. Although their shots are poorly aimed from that distance, it's only a matter of time before they begin swarming our building."

"Roger that, Ben. You and Sam, prioritize your targets. Everyone on the ground, open fire." He brought his Lancer up and was about to fire out the window when he heard the muffled sound of a door behind him, but outside his room, being broken down. He spun around and drew his Boltok six-shooter pistol with his left hand. "I'm pinned down in this room. There are Locust entering the buildings. Maybe a sniper or—" He didn't get to finish, as the door was opened. A single Locust sniper took a step in and stopped dead when it saw Jess.

It blinked twice.

Jess fired once.

The Locust's head exploded in a shower against the wall of the hallway. A Grub stormed through the door. Jess fired, but he missed the head, but the Grub stumbled from the force of the shot. Jess ran towards it and jumped. He planted his right foot on its shoulder and stabilized himself by digging his other foot into its back. The Locust fell to the ground. Without looking back, he put a quick burst from his Lancer into the back of its head. It stopped struggling. He holstered the Boltok pistol and rushed into the hallway.

More Locust were waiting for him.

He held down the trigger and watched the first three fall away before he ran out of bullets. He engaged the chainsaw and slashed the next Locust in the neck. As he moved forward, the chainsaw severed the neck, and ran past as blood spattered the walls. He swung the chainsaw with his right arm, catching the next Locust in the chest, pinning it against the wall. It frantically tried to push the Lancer away, but got its fingers cut off in the process. It died on the wall with the chainsaw lodged in its chest.

Jess released the Lancer in favor for his Boltok pistol and brought it to bear. He fired three more times into the remaining Locust in the hallway, killing three with center mass shots. The last one ran, dove, and tackled Jess to the floor. It reared back, preparing to pound its fists into Jess' head. He punched upwards, catching the Locust in the chin, causing it to keel over backwards. Jess brought his feet up and crossed them over, pinning the Locust's neck to the ground. He swiftly twisted his lower body and heard a snap. The Locust lay silent.

He rolled the body off and got to his feet and saw the shadow of another Locust coming up the stairs at the end of the hall. Jess grabbed the Lancer still imbedded in one of the other Locust and yanked it out of the wall. The body fell to the floor with a dull thud as Jess engaged the chainsaw and threw the Lancer towards the stairwell. The Locust took a step on the landing at the right time and caught the gun's bayonet in the face, splitting its head in two. The gun came to rest in the wall.

Jess talked and reloaded while he walked to the stairwell, "Ben, some Locust accidentally figured out where I was. I'm moving up to the roof so I can get to another building. I need you to keep me covered."

"What about spotting for Sam?"

Leaving the Lancer in the wall, Jess picked up a fallen Longshot from the ground and policed the body for ammo. He found several individual shells. He started up the stairs. "I think he can handle himself for now. Do you see the Brumak anywhere?"

"Negative. After we started firing, it disappeared again. After the Locust started firing back at us, it may have learned where we are, though."

"Roger that. I'm making my way to the roof now."

------------------------------

Ben spoke into the COM, "Okay, I'll see you when you get out on top." There were a few seconds before he saw the stairwell door on the roof fly open as Jess barged through. Ben watched as Jess seemed to look around and to see which way he should go. Jess turned towards the side of the building opposite the square and ran towards the edge.

As Jess got to be about thirty feet away from the edge of the building, the Locust started emerging out of the stairwell.

Ben took aim and fired.

------------------------------

Jess looked around and judged the situation. He looked back the way he came.

The square was in that direction. As for jumping from building to building, there was no earthly way short of science fiction he could jump the 200 foot gap to the building on the opposite side. And even if he could, he wouldn't be able to dodge the bullets from the hundred or so Locust in the square itself. That side was out of the question.

He looked left. A tall office building was there. Unfortunately, there were hardly any windows at all. Much of the building was solid concrete. Not very friendly for those looking for an entrance higher than ground floor.

Jess looked right. A gas station. Since bullets were now flying, that would almost be as stupid an idea as jumping into the square. He might as well just put a bullet in his head. It might even be less painful than burning to death in a gasoline-fueled inferno.

He looked the way he had just been running. A fancy hotel. Perfect, thought Jess. There'll be plenty of places to hide, plus a good view no matter where I go. He ran towards the edge of the building closest to the hotel.

As he was nearing the edge, he heard the door fly open again and glanced back just in time to see the lead Locust's head disappear in a cloud of blood. He turned back and leapt off the edge.

Looking down, he saw four lanes in the road. Jess had only ever jumped across three, and that was hard enough. As he neared the end of the third lane, he had brought his Lancer up and shot out the windows he was heading towards. Fortunately, he made it across the fourth lane with enough force to slam through the glass of a hotel room. He landed on his feet, but twisted his body and rolled to absorb the force of the landing. As he rolled to his feet again, he turned and saw a Locust body fall past the window and land with a sickening crunch below.

Jess looked out the window. The Locust had landed in the center of a bright yellow car. Jess put his finger to his ear. "Thanks, Ben."

"No problem. All of the ones following you are dead now. That was one hell of a jump, man. I guess that last son of a bitch thought he could make the jump, too."

"He should've just walked across the street."

"I think he actually took a cab."

"No shit. How's everyone else doing?"

"Most everything in the square is dead. The Brumak is still MIA. I'll keep you updated."

"Roger that." Jess drew the Boltok pistol and opened the door to the hallway. He peered around both ways and found it empty. Jess saw an EXIT sign and ran off in its direction. Once in the stairwell, he headed upwards towards the roof.

------------------------------

Sam only saw one target at a time. He didn't even blink. He just pulled the trigger, moved his hands slightly, and repeated.

Every time he fired, he hit center mass on his target. There was no need for more impressive headshots, especially when one .50 caliber bullet could put a hole the size of a grapefruit through a Locust's torso. Every single shot he fired killed the Locust he fired at, moving or otherwise. Some shots he made overlap; he could pull the trigger and simultaneously take out one's shoulder and another's leg.

He was reloading when he looked down at the square. The surviving Locust in the area had already started running away. Sam scanned the area and stopped cold when he saw it. Jess had apparently seen it, too, because he was already yelling over the COM.

------------------------------

"Sam! Ben! Stop firing. The Brumak is back. Everyone check in."

"Nick here. I'm good to go with the RPG."

"This is Chuck. I'm in position."

"Alan reporting in. I'm ready."

"This is Ben. I'm ready with Sam."

"Sam here. Locked and loaded."

A voice sighed, "This is Greg. I'm still in the APC. Don't hesitate to call if you need me."

"Alright everyone. Let's go over it again just to be safe. Nick, you'll shoot the legs. Try to go for the knee, if possible. I'm not exactly sure how well it can guide rockets, but do your best."

Nick came on the COM, "Roger that."

"Chuck, Alan, and I will provide covering fire to annoy the Brumak even more. Try to shoot at the same place that Nick hits if possible. If it's not possible, aim for where its guns meet the skin. Ready, everyone?"

There was a chorus of "ready" from everyone.

"Alright. Let's do this."

------------------------------

Over the COM, Sam heard Jess say, "Nick, open fire."

There was a slight pause, then he saw a small fireball shoot out from a nearby building. The fireball struck the Brumak dead in the knee, and a split second later, three lines of gunfire erupted from nearby buildings. The Brumak stumbled into the square and landed on the knee that was just engulfed in flame.

One of its arms swung wide to stabilize itself and cut into a nearby office building, causing it to fall onto the building Jess had been in not a minute earlier. The Brumak's arm cannons weren't supposed to be able to take that much force, and correspondingly tore off. The circuitry of the gun overloaded and sent hundreds of rounds firing into the still-present crowd of Locust in the square. Another rocket flew out from where Nick was and struck the Brumak in the other knee.

The Brumak opened its mouth and roared. Sam saw the opportunity and made a quick adjustment with his fingers. He pulled the trigger.

------------------------------

Ben was watching through his Longshot scope. With his sniper rifle propped up on the same table as Sam, he heard Sam's shot long before he saw blood spray out the bottom of the Brumak's jaw. The Brumak bellowed even more and brought its other set of arm cannons around.

And pointed it almost directly at Sam and Ben.

Ben looked away from the scope. "Mother fucking…"

Sam didn't look away from the scope. He smiled and started to laugh.

Ben looked over in disbelief and said, "You're absolutely out of your God damned mind, you crazy son of a bitch." He looked back at the Brumak as he heard Sam fire.

The Brumak fired its remaining arm cannon at them. Hundreds of rounds shattered the windows around their office, but only a couple came close. The beast was simply too far away for accuracy.

Sam continued firing at the Brumak. Suddenly, the remaining cannon started to slide off its arm and fell to the ground. It left a huge crater in the pavement where it landed.

The Brumak seemed confused at what it was seeing, but two out of its three major weapons had been destroyed in less than ten seconds. It roared again and leaned forward, bringing the larger, heavier, and more powerful cannon to bear on them.

Jess yelled into the COM, "Greg, get the APC up here, on the double!"

Command came on over their headsets. "Hammer of Dawn is online."

"Ben, burn that fucking thing."

Everyone saw the faint red line trace out from the Barclays building and they knew what was coming next. At about the same time, Greg spun around the corner with the APC, weapons blaring. The Brumak's legs tore off at the knee from the APC fire as the sky opened up. The satellite linked to Ben's Hammer rained pure energy into the Brumak and tore its body apart.

The Brumak practically exploded and a small mushroom cloud was rising into the sky. Even through the smoke and flames, everyone could see the Brumak writhing in pain. Its movements slowed as more explosions tore its body apart. Its dead carcass fell out of the inferno and onto the pavement. It didn't move again.

------------------------------

Sam ejected the last empty shell out of the gun and stood up. Ben was still sitting there, watching the scene unfold with complete and utter disbelief at what he was seeing. The Brumak lay smoldering in the square as the rest of the Locust retreated from the area. Sam turned to leave, but stopped. He looked at Ben. "You coming?"

Ben said nothing.

Sam bent over and picked up a spent .308 and tossed it at Ben. As it hit him, he spoke a little louder. "Ben!" Ben moved quickly like he didn't know anyone was with him. "Let's get out of here." They went down the hallway and entered to the elevator. The doors shut.

Ben was quiet for a few moments, then let it all out. "Holy shit, man. You know how close we came to dying?"

Sam looked at him. "Uh… yeah. I was kinda right there with you."

"Yeah, I know. It's just… damn. That was some good shooting, Sam."

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it."

The bell dinged, the doors opened, and they got out of the elevator. They stepped out of the Barclays Bank building into the square. The others were already there waiting for them. Greg was just pulling up the APC.

Nick pointed at Ben. "See? I told you it wasn't a good day to be a Locust!"

Sam just smiled, but Ben rolled his eyes. Jess ran up to them. "Good job guys. I'll radio Command to get those Ravens. Collect weapons and ammo and let's get those weapons out of the church basement."

Forty-five minutes later, they were heading back to base for debriefing and some rest.


	5. Briefing and New Weapons

The seven of them arrived back at Command Headquarters, near the steep cliffs at Jacinto's border in the evening.

Sam was the last one who went through the debriefing process. It was everything to be expected from the standard debriefing; a recollection of events, questions about things that could have done better, and so on and so on until the silhouettes behind the shadowy table in the darkness were satisfied. He was dismissed after about fifteen minutes. He returned to the assigned barracks and found the others sitting around a makeshift table playing a game of cards.

Nick was the first to notice him slip through the doorway. "Hey! The prodigal son returns."

Greg chuckled, "Don't you mean the _prodigious_ son?"

"Yeah, whatever." Everyone laughed. "You want to play some hold 'em, Sam? Maybe if we get another person playing, I'll stop getting shitty hands. This four-deuce off-suit bullshit that I keep getting is killing me."

Sam said, "Well, with my luck, you'll probably get your four-deuce again, flop a full house, and take all my money."

Ben said, "Come on, you pussy. Seven people are better than six for poker. You know that."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hear you." He sighed. "I guess I'll play. I mean, it's not like we're on high alert now or anything." He pulled out his wallet and sat down at the table.

As they were playing, they had the usual bantering that goes on when a bunch of guys play poker.

"Hey, man. What do you have?"

"Man, I'm glad I played this hand; I got me a full house, baby!"

"Yeah, right. You only _think_ you can actually beat my five-high."

After a few hours, they started to get tired of losing money to Sam, so they all turned in for bed. At exactly 0800 hours the following morning, the call came over the base's loudspeakers. "November and Glacier squads, your presence has been requested by Colonel Mendoza. Please report directly to the Control Room."

Without a word, they walked out of the room. As the room was right down the hall, they entered the Control Room not thirty seconds later.

The control room was full of intelligence and military officers and technicians.

Colonel Hoffman, the one responsible for putting one of the best soldiers from the Pendulum Wars in the Slab was one of several officers surrounding a central table. One of the officers next to Hoffman noticed them enter and called over the commotion, "Gentlemen, come over here." As they got closer, they realized that he was a Corporal. The rest of the officers, including Hoffman, packed their papers and left.

"Hello, all of you. Jess, I was the one who spoke to you on the COM about the special weapons yesterday. I'm Colonel Salvador Mendoza. Before your next mission, I wanted to let you know exactly what it was going to be. No bullshitting. Being a soldier like you, I understand that knowledge in situations like these is a valuable commodity, and I know how sketchy Intel can be sometimes.

"The seven of you will be forming from November and Glacier squads into Strike Team November. You're going to have several high-priority tasks issued to you. These tasks will be specially designed to strike heavy blows to the Locust.

"Your first mission is going to be an attempt to cause massive damage to an identified Locust arms factory. We're going to drop you in Ilima's sister city, Fort Charles. It's about fifteen clicks away from an Imulsion facility where you will gain access to the Hollow via one of the deep drilling platforms. Our plan is that you stay in Fort Charles for the first day and night, then go to and move into the facility on the second evening, that way you can get a good start on your mission. Are there any questions?"

There was a long pause. Nick looked at the others, then spoke. "So let me get this straight. You want the seven of us to go on our own into the Locust Hollow where no one has been before…"

"Meaning no medevac or any kind of support whatsoever if things go sideways," Greg interjected.

Everyone looked at Nick as he continued, "And you want us to take what few guns we have…"

"Experimental weapons included," Sam added.

"…and go to where a very large collection of Locust controlled weapons are presumably being protected, if not _held_, by an equally large collection of Locust and destroy the weapons they, as aforementioned, are probably holding and firing at us. Meaning we'll be vastly outnumbered and outgunned and much more likely to die than if we _didn't_ do what you just suggested and just bombed the shit out of them."

They looked from Nick to the Colonel, who said nothing. Ben dropped and shook his head and spoke softly enough so that only the eight of them could hear, "Nick, just shut the fuck up."

The Colonel said, "Are there any other questions?"

Ben raised his voice a bit and looked up, "Yeah. How are we supposed to find our way around down there? I've been in caverns before, and it can be a complete pain in the ass to get around."

"Unfortunately, we don't have enough information to give you foot-by-foot map of the Locust tunnels. However, we reconfigured a few Hammer of Dawn satellites so we could use them for imaging. We can give you a very basic, general outline of what direction to go after you reach the Imulsion facility, but that's as good as it gets."

Jess asked, "What about Kryll?"

The Colonel shrugged. "What about them?"

"If Kryll live in the caverns during the day, assuming we're down there for more than a single day, which it sounds like we might be, what do we do when they return? Nick's right as far as being outnumbered by Kryll; you can't really possibly expect us to kill every single one of them. There's far too many for us to even start _imagining_ how to kill them all."

"We've actually thought about that problem already and are already adapting your armor to have yellow, low power LEDs built in. The reason we chose yellow is so that you can blend in, at least somewhat, with the Imulsion-rich environment. However, while they are dim, they're bright enough to keep away Kryll, that way you can even sleep in shifts without worrying about being eaten alive. Like the standard issue blue ones, they run off your personal body heat, so they don't need to be recharged.

"Is there anything else?" He waited. "No? You'll need to head to the Warehouse now for briefing on the new weapons you'll be using. After that, you have a week of R and R before your mission. I suggest using the time to exercise and get better at using the weapons. Oh, I forgot to mention Anya." He gestured to one of the intelligence officers, who looked up at hearing her name. "This is Lieutenant Anya Stroud." She nodded slightly at them and went back to work. "She'll be in charge of running your operations from now on. Now if you'll please report to the Warehouse, you can start your training. Dismissed."

They saluted and headed out of the Control Room.

------------------------------

_**They walked through the huge, bay door of the Warehouse and headed toward Bay 4. While it was dubbed the "Warehouse", it was actually a long-unused Petrel hanger from the Pendulum Wars. While Petrel fighter-bombers were rather small, they built several in each large hanger. The "Warehouse" had enough bays to make six Petrels at the same time.**_

_**In the main part of the room, there were several Centaur tanks in various states of repair. Some had jagged holes in the armor or wheels that had been ripped off at the axel, but some just had bullet holes that were being patched. The wall between Bay 2 and 3 had been knocked out and an APC was on a hydraulic lift.**_

_**They arrived at Bay 6. They accidentally startled the mechanic working there. He had a southwestern drawl to his voice.**_

"_**Holy titties!" He laughed at himself getting startled so easily. "Damn, you guys scared the livin' shit outta me. The name's Dizzy. Dizzy Wallin. I jes got conscripted a few months ago to help yeh win the war. So, how you guys doin' t'day?"**_

_**Jess extended his hand. "We're doing good, Dizzy, thanks." He introduced them all. "How are you doing, Dizzy?"**_

_**Dizzy removed the worn 10-gallon hat and set it on the table next to the Mk.5 Longshot. "I'm doin' jes fine. Been preppin' yer weapons all mornin'. So, lemme give ya tha rundown."**_

_**He spent a good hour talking about the weapons.**_

------------------------------

_**Sam's Mk.5 Longshot sniper rifle fired the .50 cal ammunition that APCs carried. He was informed that he could also use the ammunition from Troikas when they came across them, so ammo wouldn't be a problem, and the difference between COG and Locust munitions would mean he could use them for different purposes.**_

_**While earlier Longshot snipers were all built together, this one used a free-floating barrel. When a gun fires, the contact and friction with other parts of the gun doesn't allow the barrel to return the original position. With the free-floating barrel system, the barrel is only attached to the receiver, or the "moving parts" section of the gun where the trigger mechanisms are held, lowering the amount of parts that touch the barrel and allowing it to return as close to the original position as possible.**_

_**The gun also came with a custom variable-optic digital scope that featured thermal, night, infrared and several other vision spectrums. It could even show the range of the target in the reticule and read wind speed along the bullets flight path. That meant that, even though Sam wouldn't need it, the scope could tell you exactly where to aim to hit a target within two and a half miles. Back during the Pendulum Wars, Miles Furlong killed an enemy combatant from a distance of 1.509 miles with the then-brand-new Mk.2 Longshot. During preliminary testing of the Mk.5 with a computer aiming the weapon, it hit a human-size target from 1.75 miles. And continued through the target and took down the small tree behind it. Needless to say, the Mk.5 Longshot is an extremely powerful and deadly weapon.**_

------------------------------

_**Nick's new FBW Rocket Launcher System is pretty much exactly the way it sounds: it fires simple projectile comprised of the "eye", the explosive, and the booster. The explosive and booster are simple enough, but the "eye" is the catch of the entire thing. It's not necessarily a traditional fly-by-wire system, where the projectile is attached to the launcher by a thin cable that sends directions telling the projectile where to go. The new launcher uses infrared homing to direct the projectile to the target that is "painted" by the user. It's basically a cut-down version of the laser-guided bomb system the Petrels of the Pendulum Wars used: fairly simple, but still pretty complex as well. He was also given drastically shapeable charges so that he could do anything from pick a lock to blow the Warehouse to oblivion.**_

------------------------------

_**Ben received a new triple-bore Gnasher shotgun to use. It's virtually identical: the barrel is a little more bulky looking, the "pump" is in the same location, and it only holds one more bullet in the clip. However, the guts of the shotgun are where it becomes astronomically different. If you pump once, it loads one bore, as can be expected. If you pump twice, it loads two bores. If you fire while two bores are loaded, both the barrels will fire at the same time, meaning that while there will be marginally more kick to it, there will be twice the amount of shot flying through the air. Like pumping three times and firing, there will be three times the amount of shot in the air going towards the target. With how the Locust rushed COG soldiers in cover, the new Gnasher would easily tear them into pieces. With Ben's position as guarding Sam's back, a few dozen pellets flying through the air would easily stop any Locust.**_

------------------------------

_**Dizzy gave Jess a pair of modified Snub pistols. They were a little bigger than the regular COG-issued Snub pistol, but they had replaced the innards of the pistols with that of a dramatically cut-down Hammerburst so they could fire like automatics. They could be switched back and forth from semi-automatic to fully auto with a simple switch. Both had red-dot sights and could have silencers and extended magazines attached. While the firepower didn't necessarily match that of all seven of November firing Lancers, it would certainly be enough to pick off the random lone Grub on patrol. And they fit in perfectly with Jess' run-and-gun style of fighting.**_

------------------------------

_**A very excited Alan received a still very experimental energy gun. The power source he described in the same paper that was used to birth the Hammer had been produced in a much smaller version, had been turned into a couple of self-sustaining power cells that produced a very limited amount of energy compared to the Hammer of Dawn satellites. While the energy was limited, it was proportional to that of the satellites, meaning that it was still extremely powerful. On the interior of the gun, the energy was run through a small magnetic field. When the gun is fired, a series of super powerful magnets launch the magnetic field and energy inside. Because the field was strong enough to not be diverted to any directionality by Sera's magnetic poles and magnetism is not affected by any outside forces like gravity or wind, the field with the energy inside can hit the target almost at the moment it is fired. Basically, the gun wrapped up pieces of the energy and propelled them toward the target with ridiculous speed. For all intents and purposes, it was a cut down Hammer of Dawn satellite.**_

_**Unlike the Hammer of Dawn satellites, the energy could not be forced into a solid, continuous beam for the same reason the satellites stopped firing after a couple seconds. The onboard computer on the satellite automatically shuts off the beam when the temperature of the metal gets to a certain point. In outer space, the average temperature is circa -450 Fahrenheit. The Hammer of Dawn satellites are made of a blend of tungsten, carbon, and titanium that yields a melting point over 6000 degrees. However, as the beam is extremely powerful, it gets close to that melting point rather quickly, but the computer shuts it off a comfortable 2000 degrees away, ensuring the multi-billion dollar weapons don't turn into a useless pile of slag and allowing the surrounding -450 degree temperature to cool it back down to be fired again.**_

_**Essentially, the energy gun couldn't fire a continuous beam like the Hammer because Alan, all of November, the surrounding area, and the gun would melt instantaneously. Contrary to popular belief, personal spontaneous combustion is not very helpful when trying to fight a war.**_

------------------------------

_**The near-always silent Chuck received what was called a magnetic cannon, but was closer to a rail-gun than anything else. Like the energy gun, it used several magnets. It was another cut down version of another technology, but this time it took the idea of the Magnetic-Levitation train systems, like that of the Tyro Railways. It takes a metal slug and fires the magnets at specific intervals to accelerate the projectile to about the same speed as a bullet. Instead of causing penetration damage, though, the projectile would cause massive blunt damage and rip something the size of a Locust Grub apart.**_

------------------------------

_**Dizzy took Greg over to the APC in Bays 2 and 3 while the others went to the firing range with their weapons. All six of its four-foot tires had been removed so that the suspension could be upgraded. Work on the hull hadn't been completed yet; several large sections of the armor were in the process of being removed and replaced by stronger and lighter plating. A dozen canisters of the standard .50 caliber ammunition were stacked neatly next to the wall. Near one of the open walls sat a new 800 horsepower engine that mechanics were tuning to make the APC's top speed faster so it could outrun anything it came across.**_

------------------------------

_**After lunch, Greg went to the Warehouse to help work on the APC and get the driving set to his specifications and Ben, Chuck, Alan, and Jess went to the firing range. Sam and Nick, however, set out to the city with permission from Colonel Mendoza for more realistic practice session.**_


End file.
